COVID-19 among Black people in Canada: a scoping review. / La COVID-19 chez les personnes noires au Canada : un examen de la portée.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated health inequities worldwide. Research conducted in Canada shows that Black populations were disproportionately exposed to COVID-19 and more likely than other ethnoracial groups to be infected and hospitalized. This scoping review sought to map out the nature and extent of current research on COVID-19 among Black people in Canada. METHODS: Following a five-stage methodological framework for conducting scoping reviews, studies exploring the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Black people in Canada, published up to May 2023, were retrieved through a systematic search of seven databases. Of 457 identified records, 124 duplicates and 279 additional records were excluded after title and abstract screening. Of the remaining 54 articles, 39 were excluded after full-text screening; 2 articles were manually picked from the reference lists of the included articles. In total, 17 articles were included in this review. RESULTS: Our review found higher rates of COVID-19 infections and lower rates of COVID-19 screening and vaccine uptake among Black Canadians due to pre-COVID-19 experiences of institutional and structural racism, health inequities and a mistrust of health care professionals that further impeded access to health care. Misinformation about COVID-19 exacerbated mental health issues among Black Canadians. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest the need to address social inequities experienced by Black Canadians, particularly those related to unequal access to employment and health care. Collecting race-based data on COVID-19 could inform policy formulation to address racial discrimination in access to health care, quality housing and employment, resolve inequities and improve the health and well-being of Black people in Canada.

A scoping review on the operationalization of intersectional health research methods in studies related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

PURPOSE: The COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020 and became a global health crisis with devastating impacts. This scoping review maps the key findings of research about the pandemic that has operationalized intersectional research methods around the world. It also tracks how these studies have engaged with methodological tenets of oppression, comparison, relationality, complexity, and deconstruction. METHODS: Our search resulted in 14,487 articles, 5164 of which were duplicates, and 9297 studies that did not meet the inclusion criteria were excluded. In total, 14 articles were included in this review. We used thematic analysis to analyse themes within this work and Misra et al. (2021) intersectional research framework to analyse the uptake of intersectional methods within such studies. RESULTS: The research related to the COVID-19 pandemic globally is paying attention to issues around the financial impacts of the pandemic, discrimination, gendered impacts, impacts of and on social ties, and implications for mental health. We also found strong uptake of centring research in the context of oppression, but less attention is being paid to comparison, relationality, complexity, and deconstruction. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show the importance of intersectional research within public health policy formation, as well as room for greater rigour in the use of intersectional methods.